Hearers and Doers of the Word

"...Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." (Romans 10:17 NKJV)

"So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear...and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls... be doers of the word, and not hearers only...he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.  (James 1:19-24 NKJV excerpts)


"Increase our faith, Lord...help me in my unbelief."  When this is our cry, and it often is, we need to HEAR the Word of God.  

For decades, research has confirmed what God told us in His Word:

• we forget 90-95% of what we only hear in 72 hours
• we forget 70% of what we only read in 72 hours
• we forget 50% of what we both hear and read in 72 hours
• we forget 10 % of what we hear, read and do in 72 hours 

It is awesome to see God's truth played out in our lives! He tells us to hear; He tells us to do.  Are we?  Even in the Christian realm where we are encouraged to read the Word daily, not much emphasis is placed on the hearing.  Why not read aloud? Then you both read and hear, even if it's just to yourself! Read aloud to each other, recite to one another - what a blessing to hear someone speak out a verse that has brought life and light to them!

Paul encouraged believers to "be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,  submitting to one another in the fear of God (Ephesians 5:18-21 NKJV).  This includes psalms and spiritual songs, giving thanks (aloud) - shouldn't we be thanking, praising, singing, reciting, reading aloud to ourselves, to others- as God directed?  What a difference this could make in our lives, even if we only did this alone! 

Increase our faith, Lord...help us in our unbelief...stir us up to love and good works to be doers and hearers of Your Word.


"Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart Be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer. "(Ps. 19:14 NKJV)

Thy Word by Amy Grant (click link to hear song)